February 25, 2003

Argument - I got into

Argument - I got into a big argument with my parents and sister last night. It was over the war. It escalated into shouting (mostly on my part). I feel a little bad about that, but I have strong feelings about the war. i believe there is some room for reasonable disagreement on the issue of war, and I respect my parents opinions. But it upsets me when people seem to be making decisions on less information than they should.

One thing I regret saying was stating outright that there are no terrorist camps in Iraq. There are cams, though not in the Saddam-controlled parts of the country. And they are not al Qaida, but rather are loosely affiliated. And these folks have met with Saddam to talk, though there is no evidence of support other than the fact that they both view America as an enemy.

I have a number of reasons I oppose the war. One is that I think it will decrease world stability, not increase it. I oppose what I perceive to be Bush's rush to war in our name, and in the name of our safety when there is no proof that Saddam has lent any support to al Qaida.

A war will be costly in lives and dollars, and I think the situation can be handled in a less costly way. I think the containment of the last 10 years has been a success, not a failure. If having troops in the area and having the UN inspectors back in Iraq is slowly putting the pressure on Saddam to cooperate, then I think slow and effective is better than quick and costly.

However, I have to learn how to calm down. And the fact that I'm drinking coffee again is not helping matters.